The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
With the growing amount of information and services that are available to individuals via cloud-based resources and via cellular links using smartphones, motor vehicle manufacturers are presented with a significant challenge as to how to make a wide variety of diverse information available to the user in a manner which is easy for the user to assimilate while operating a motor vehicle, and convenient for a user to access and control through an information/entertainment interface used on the vehicle. While various attempts have been made to provide an integrated user interface, such previously developed systems have not necessarily been highly intuitive for a user to learn to use. Such previously developed systems have either not been able to “learn”, or have not been particularly effective at learning, habits of the user to enhance the user's experience with the vehicle's information and entertainment delivery capabilities.
Still further previously developed vehicle based information/entertainment systems have not been effective at providing the capability for a user to share important real time information that the user experiences while operating the vehicle, with other users who might benefit from knowledge of the same information while using their own vehicles. One example is enabling one user to immediately provide real time information on road hazards to other vehicle operators who may be in the vicinity. Still further, enabling the vehicle to automatically detect certain events, for example hitting a significant pothole or ice patch, and then to automatically provide real time information to other vehicle operators of the event, would help other vehicle operators prepare for, or avoid altogether, areas or obstacles that make vehicle operation more challenging.
Another limitation of previously developed on-board vehicle information/entertainment management systems is the inability to infer what information may be useful or needed by the user at a given time while the user is operating the vehicle. For example, it would helpful if a vehicle information management system was able to monitor a user's calendar and learned preferences and to infer, from one or more calendar entries, what route a user is likely to take to a given calendar appointment. This intelligence could be used by the system to then provide suggested restaurants, which are likely to be to the user's liking, along that specific route, as well as other useful information to the user, without prior prompting or request by the user. Another benefit would be the ability of the vehicle's information management system to infer the user's route and to use that information in real time to suggest to the user specific retail establishments where needed periodic maintenance (e.g., oil change, tire rotation, etc.) could be performed in accordance with suggested service intervals for the vehicle. And still another benefit would be the ability of the system to determine, from the user's calendar entries and real time weather and/or traffic information, as well as the distance to an appointment destination, whether the user will be able to arrive at the appointment destination by a set appointment time in the user's calendar, as well as whether a fuel fill up will be required for the vehicle to make it to an appointment destination. Present day vehicle information and/or interface systems are lacking in the ability to access and intelligently integrate information from various diverse resources, both on-board and off-board the vehicle, in real time, to provide these types of capabilities.
Still another limitation of previously developed vehicle information/interface systems is the limited ability for passengers present in the vehicle to share media content that the passenger brings onto the vehicle with other passengers on the vehicle or with the operator of the vehicle. For example, a passenger using a rear seat entertainment system on the vehicle may not necessarily be able to easily share media that is brought onto the vehicle with another passenger seated in the vehicle and/or with the driver. Still further, a user seated in one of the passenger seats may not be able to “push” information, such as media (e.g., music) or navigation maps, to the display associated with the vehicle's information/entertainment system.